


I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

by olddarkmachine



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff and Angst, consider that your warning, i uh i may or may not have made myself almost cry writing it sooooooo, quit a lot, so there's that lol - Freeform, uh the angst hurts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-08 07:55:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12250197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/olddarkmachine/pseuds/olddarkmachine
Summary: Gajeel and Levy go on a picnic.





	I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

**Author's Note:**

> I got this idea while listening to [ Sleep At Last's version of I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU81DihqD0c). Hence the title. I highly suggest you listen to it to set the scene. And major shoutout to [Blue](http://bluuesparrow.tumblr.com/) for being this fic's first victim.

Gajeel watched as Levy raised up on her tippiest of toes as she attempted to grab a picnic basket from the top shelf of one of their cupboards. He couldn’t help the bark of laughter that tore from him at the way her cheeks reddened and she screwed her mouth into a determined pout. She was always too stubborn to ask for help.

 

“I’ve got this,” she growled as if she heard his thoughts, keeping her gaze trained on the matching honey wood of the basket. The tip of her pink tongue quirked out of the corner of her mouth as she continued to stretch towards it. With a small hop-- her hail mary pass, she’d once said-- her fingertips brushed the bottom of the basket, jostling it just enough for gravity to pull it down into her open arms. Her magenta smile was triumphant as she looked down at it. 

 

“See.”

 

Another laugh was all he answered as he leaned a hip against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest, watching as she packed the basket with finger sandwiches and snacks. She made fast work of the packing, humming to herself as she did so. It was a tune he recognized, the corner of his mouth pulling upwards into a crooked grin as he realized it was one of his own pieces. 

 

_He knew she secretly loved his music._

 

With his rueful smile on his lips, Gajeel pushed away from the counter and made his way towards her, stopping only when he was just close enough for her back to brush against his chest. Lavender and ink filled his senses as he watched her pack a delicate paper rose, words twisting across its white petals and staining it with the words she held so dear. Everything about her pulled him in, his nose brushing against the hair at her ear and sending a shiver down her spine that he felt against his skin. Gajeel’s eyes fluttered shut as a small moan crawled lazily from deep within his throat.

 

The sharp snap of the basket closing made him jump.

 

“Time to go!” Levy’s voice was filled with her excitement, her body practically thrumming with it, as she grabbed the basket and twirled to leave the kitchen. They’d be headed to their hill today. It was the same one where they’d shared their first kiss. 

 

The same where he’d asked her to marry him. 

 

The emerald hill lay just behind their house, watching over them with the fond eyes of their memories. Whenever they hadn’t been on jobs, they would find themselves on that hill. It’d quickly become one of their favorite places to be as they etched every milestone of their relationship across its crest. Fall days like today only made it more appealing as the tree that at at the top was a picture of fire against the cerulean sky.

 

As Levy made her way up the hill, Gajeel admired her graceful steps as he followed behind her, hands thrust deep in his pockets and smiling to himself. With her hair blowing in the breeze like an azure blaze, she moved like a dancer against the incline, moving to the music only she could hear that was carried on the breeze. He often wondered if she knew the effect she had on him. She shot a glance over her shoulder, the sun catching her profile just so as it illuminated the amber of her eyes.

 

If she didn’t know, she needed to. 

 

The small chuckle that the thought had conjured stuck in his throat like shrapnel as they reached the top of the hill. His eyes were only drawn away from from the glowing woman in front of him by the smooth grey stone that marked the top of their hill. As she pressed onward, he paused as he watched her look down at it with the smile she’d only ever reserved for him.

 

“Hey, baby,” her voice was soft and barely there as the Fall air carried her words away. Levy’s fingers caressed the smooth stone of the gravestone as she walked around it, setting the picnic basket down beside it as she knelt. Hands clasped together in front of her chest, she started to recite a prayer. The words were honey on her lips. As she spoke, Gajeel lowered himself on top of the stone, not bothering to look at what it said. 

 

He already knew.

 

It would have his name, and two years connected by a hyphen that was supposed to sum up his life. It was plain, and it was simple, just as he’d asked for it to be. When they’d found out about the malignant cells, they’d held onto hope the way people stranded in the middle of the ocean held onto buoys; tightly, knowing there was little hope, but still clinging to it as if it was enough. Then they’d learned it had metastasized and filled him, ripping the buoy straight from under them so they could drown.

 

At the beginning, he’d worried about that hyphen. He’d worried that everything he was would be lost in the small, two inch scar in the stone. How would people remember him? The great Gajeel Redfox, losing a battle to a bunch of cells that had made up his own body. Pathetic. 

 

It had been a Fall day-- much like this one, he thought-- when he decided it didn’t matter. Levy had been smiling up at the sky, the sun casting orange and yellow shadows over her skin as it shone through the leaves of the tree above them. In that moment, she was a thousand painted sunsets; the northern lights; and the infinite stars that made up the galaxy.

 

She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. 

 

_Simple_ , he’d said as he watched the light dance on her lily petal skin. _Let’s make it simple_. The only person he needed to remember his life, would remember him like that. As the man that was sitting with her under that tree, and that was enough. 

 

“Everyone’s doing great,” she said after she’d finished her prayers and started to pull the innards of the picnic basket out. Gajeel listened as she continued to talk about anything and everything, and nothing at all, relishing in the musical lilt of her voice. 

 

“Juvia apologized for not coming by to say hi this time,” Levy continued, setting the paper flower at the foot of the headstone. A small sigh escaped him at the soft brush of her skin against his boot. “She’s pretty far along though, and Gray said if she came, he was going to carry her.” They chuckled together as they both imagined the ice mage carrying a pregnant Juvia up the steep hill to his grave. _Gray is strong_ \--

 

“--but he isn’t that strong.” She popped the top off of the boxed lunch she’d packed and pulled a small triangle of sandwich from it. Through her small bites she filled him in on everyone’s lives at the guild. Lucy and Natsu were due back from their honeymoon any day now. Everyone was already betting on how long until they announced their own pregnancy.

 

“I’ll show you how to raise a kid, Gray!” Levy laughed as she imitated the dragon slayer’s voice. 

 

Mira and Laxus were watching over things while Erza visited Jellal. No one knew where he was still, but Erza had been happier recently so no one asked. 

 

“She deserves it, ya know?” Another bite of sandwich.

 

Lily was off on a job, but he sent his regards. He would visit when he returned, which Gajeel didn’t doubt. Whenever it wasn’t Levy visiting, it was Lily. He continued to listen, getting lost in the cadence of her words as they enveloped him with their warmth. As she finished her food, she started to gesticulate excitedly as she spoke of the library she ran and the children she saw once a week to teach them the stories of the world. 

 

“They’re so smart, Gajeel!” She cried, his favorite smile stretching across her face. With a smile like that, she rivaled the sun. “One kid, Noah, he reminds me of you.” Levy’s voice faltered for a moment. 

 

“We’re not supposed to have favorites, but he’s mine.”

 

Though she smiled, a single tear rolled lazily down her cheek. He’d give anything to be able to wipe it away for her. Quickly, she wiped away the line of moisture before she launched into another story about Wendy and Carla. 

 

The sun began to sink over the crest of the hill and her words began to run dry before finally she stopped speaking. With a sigh, she packed up her basket and stood.

 

“I guess it’s that time.” Her voice was low and thick as she kept her eyes trained on her hands. It was that time, but how he wished it wasn’t. Her fingers trembled slightly as she lifted a hand to her lips, then pressed the fingers to the stone. Gajeel hummed as her fingers landed just beside his hand.

 

“Happy anniversary, baby,” she said, the tears turning the words to water. “I’ll see you next week.”

 

As she walked away, he stayed perched on his headstone, watching the delicate strands of blue dance along the breeze. He’d loved her in life, and he loved her in death still. Her form disappeared over the the horizon as she made her way back to the town and he smiled.

 

He’d be there waiting for her, each day, week or year. No matter how long she took, he would be waiting.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! ODM here, I'm doing a 12 Days of Christmas thing where I'm taking 12 prompts that I will post December 14-December 25! Completely free, minimum of 1k words, will write any pairing and any prompt with just a few rules in place. It will be dedicated to you and you'll even receive a digital copy! (Of course, you can remain anonymous too.)
> 
> Check out the information on [Tumblr!](https://theolddarkmachine.tumblr.com/post/166044384257/help-odm-needs-you) Deadline for prompts is 10/31 :)


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